I notice he's dripping onto the floor. "Wait, did you swim here?"
He chuckles. "Are you kidding? Even ducks are drowning out there right now." He strokes my back. "I might be desperate, but I'm not suicidal."
"Then how?"
"It's a long story, but just in case the Brazilian police come calling tomorrow to track down some crazy American who commandeered a luxury yacht, you know nothing." He pulls back and looks at me. "I can't believe I'm here with you. Jesus, Liss. I can't ..." He shakes his head. "You don't even know how I'm feeling right now. I've missed you so fucking much."
He leans down and cautiously presses his lips against mine. I inhale as a jolt of electricity hits me that's more powerful than all of the lightning outside. While we were apart, I thought I remembered how intense our chemistry was. How being with him lit napalm beneath my skin. I was wrong. Whatever thigh-tingling memories I had of how Liam Quinn affects me were a pale, sad imitation of the explosive, knee-buckling reality.
With a sharp inhale, he changes the angle of his mouth and sucks gently on my lips, first the top, then the bottom. Lord, how he tastes and smells. Perfect.
At first he's hesitant, like he doesn't remember how to kiss me. I don't blame him. It's been so long, I'm not sure I remember, either. But our instincts return quickly, and when that happens, our mouths open and tongues slide until we devolve into a mess of grasping hands and primal, desperate noises.
I try to feel him all at once. Reclaim the body I've been craving. He seems to do the same as he moves his hands into my hair and grinds against my stomach. The shape and feel of him is both brand new and completely familiar. Even though his wild hair and lumberjack beard are different, for the first time in months I feel whole. His lips are as intoxicating as they've always been, and the soft but insistent sweep of his tongue has me clawing for more.
"Your beard feels weird," I say as I pull back, breathless and dizzy.
"Yeah?" He looks down and tugs on the tie that's keeping my robe closed. "Good weird or bad weird?" He pushes open the robe and grazes his hands over my naked waist.
I suck in a breath and scrape my nails through his facial hair. "I'm not sure. Better kiss me again so I can decide."
This time when he kisses me, there's no hesitation. It's full on, one-hundred-percent turbo-charged Liam. He shoves my robe off my shoulders with rough hands and sets my body on fire with his fingers while his mouth throws gasoline on the flames.
I'm unprepared to feel so much so soon and grip his shoulders in an attempt to stay upright. My system goes into overload. It's gotten used to being bored and safe, not aroused so thoroughly I have real concerns I might pass out.
"So you like the island?" Liam asks as he charts a path of hot kisses down my neck toward my chest.
"It's amazing." When he cups my breasts, I have to lean against the wall for support.
"And the house?" He falls to his knees and kisses the side of my breast, then the top, then the nipple.
I squeeze my eyes closed and grip his broad shoulders. "Yeah, it's ... good."
He stops circling his tongue around my nipple and makes a noise. When I open my eyes, I find him staring up at me with a perplexed expression. "That's it? I search the world to find you the perfect island with the perfect house, and all you have to say about it is 'it's good'?"
I tighten my fingers on his shoulders. "Liam, I'm so turned on right now I'm flat out defying gravity, so maybe we can have a conversation about my vocabulary when I'm more lucid. For example, after you make me come."
"Then this conversation is never happening, because I'm going to spend the next four weeks making you come."
"Big talk."
"Don't think I'm serious?"
"I've yet to see the evidence."
"Fine. Prepare to have your mind blown. Then you can tell me how 'good' it is."
He closes his mouth over my nipple, and the wave of pleasure that hits me is so strong, I cry out. Not content with teasing one breast, he uses his hand on the other, and the effect is just as powerful.
"God, I've missed you girls," he mutters to my chest. "I'm pretty sure you've missed me, too."
My eyes have adjusted enough to see him in the dim light. I'm not going to lie, his perfect face framed by all that hair is freaking sexy. I push my hands into it and urge him to go lower.
He looks up and arches a brow. "Liss, if you want me to put my mouth on a certain part of your body, all you have to do is ask." He grazes his hands up the backs of my thighs until he reaches my ass, then squeezes as he lays open-mouthed kisses across my stomach. "Or if you're desperate, you could beg. That’d work, too."
I'm so high on pleasure and expectation, I'm having trouble getting enough air. It doesn't help when he nibbles on my hip.
I swear and press my head back into the wall.
"Liss?" He rolls a nipple between his thumb and forefinger. "Don't you have anything to say?"